The Devil Wears Primark

I love my fashion and I like good quality garments that are reasonably priced. Shops like Mango, Zara, Oasis, H&M and the divine asos.com are my cup of tea. I will put my hands up and say honestly that I have never been a fan of Primark. What with their cheap and dubious quality products. Last year I was very bemused and shocked when thousands of so called fashionistas or bargainistas hysterically descended upon Oxford Street to get their grubby mitts on items in the new store. The launch of what is now the flagship store of 'Primarni' became a pivitol of cheap and throw away fashion with chains such as TK Maxx and Peacocks following suit. However as we all know, with every success comes a backlash and boy did it sting when the eco tree huggers came out in full force demanding to know exactly how these shops could sell clothes at such cheapo prices and still make a profit. Accusations of child labour and sweat shops in Asia were bandied about around the same time as every Tom, Dick and Harry became very concerned about the plight of the Ozone layer. Pretty soon every council in the country had a green agenda that told us to recycle, recycle and recycle. Celebrities such as Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman and Gwyneth Paltrow attached their name to eco causes and books such as Green is the New Black by Tamsin Blanchard sold by the bucket loads. Pretty soon ethical fashion was cool and the bargain basement clothes were not. Channel 4 are hot on the heels of this amazing transition with a new show called The Devil Wears Primark, where they send the over exposed and over rated model cum presenter, Alexa Chung to investigate the goings on at Primark. They even go as far as to set up a fashion sweat shop in the West End that is staffed with volunteers to see how they cope under such conditions. I have only seen the adverts for this show but it looks like a corker.

The Devil Wears Primark airs this Sunday at 9.00pm on Channel 4.

Eco Chic Goes Glam

It is that time of the month that sends a magaholic like myself to seventh heaven. When all the new magazines are displayed on the shelves - bright, shiny and new, just the smell of the new paper is enough to get me high. Talking of paper, the new issue of Marie Claire has gone all eco hip on us. The June issue is delivered to us in a brown paper bag with a free Body Shop body butter to boot. Marie Claire has certainly pulled out the stops for this one; they have earth goddess, Cate Blanchett on the cover looking all serene and feature eco celebrities such as Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow and Leonardo Dicaprio.

While we are on the subject of magazines, I have heard on the grapevine that US Elle are in the middle of shooting a reality show about the ins and outs of the magazine. Titled, Fashionista (what else?) the programme will be produced by Tyra Banks and will follow the publications search for a fashion assistant. The show will air on The CW Network this summer.